


20/20

by theartificem



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Hollstein - Freeform, optician au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-30
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-03-09 17:03:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3257612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theartificem/pseuds/theartificem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura goes to an optical shop to get her eyes checked. The trip to said shop made her realize two things: first, her vision isn't as perfect as she's expected it to be, and second, the optician is really, really hot.</p><p>based on alwaysdrowningneverbreathing's tumblr post.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i wish i was given a lollipop for all the times i went to the optical shop.

Laura browses the different frames on the shelf as she waits for her name to be called. Her vision has been blurring lately and she thinks it’s a result of being in front of the computer for 18 hours and reading in the dark with only her cellphone as a light source. She had stubbornly refused to visit an optician because _my vision is perfectly fine, I don’t need glasses, and I can see where I’m going_. That was until she hit a post because she didn’t see it even though it’s in front of her (in her defense, she didn’t see it because she was distracted with her phone).

And that’s how she ended up at an optical shop at ten in the morning, because her roommate, LaFontaine, locked her out of their flat until she comes back with glasses on. _This is for your own good Laura,_ they told her. _I don’t want you tripping over the couch, I mean how will I explain to the emergency room that you broke your neck because you have such a huge ego?_

“Have you picked a pair?” The saleslady asks behind her.

Laura shakes her head. The saleslady opens the shelf and hands her a pair with square lens, and a thick frame. Laura puts it on and checks herself out at the mirror. Upon seeing her reflection she grimaces, she looks like a hipster minus the plaid shirt that’s two sizes bigger, weird taste in art, a cup of Starbucks, and an iPhone. She takes the glasses of and hands it back. “Maybe something a little smaller?”

The saleslady hands her another pair, this one has rectangular lens and a thin frame. It reminded her of her dad’s glasses. Laura puts it on and turns back to the mirror, she looks like she’s aged ten years older. She takes it off and hands it back. For someone who doesn’t want to wear glasses she sure is picky.

Her eyes scan the different frames again. They land on a pair with rectangular lens and a thick black frame. She points it to the saleslady. “Oh, can I try that one?” The saleslady takes the pair from the shelf and hands it to her. Laura puts it on and turns to the mirror for the third time. Not bad, she thinks. They’re not too big and it actually looks nice on her. She takes it off and hands it back with a smile. “I’ll take this one.”

“Great!” The saleslady exclaims. “I’ll just inform Dr. Karnstein that you’re ready to pick out your lens.” She walks to the back of the shop with the pair in her hands, leaving Laura alone.

After a few seconds the saleslady walks out the door. “Dr. Karnstein will see you now.”

Laura makes her way to the back, to what looks like the examination room. There’s the eye chart on the wall, and a huge chair to her left with some sort of contraption attached to it. The Dr. Karnstein has her back to her and she’s rifling through some lenses at the shelf in front of her.

“Uhm.” Laura clears her throat. Dr. Karnstein turns around and Laura’s eyes go wide. Did she hit her head on the door and die? Because holy crap Dr. Karnstein looks like a freaking angel. Laura doesn’t need 20/20 vision to see that the woman in front of her is absolutely gorgeous. Dr. Karnstein raises her eyebrows and Laura realizes that she’s been staring. Laura blushes and mumbles an apology.

Dr. Karnstein gestures to the chair. “Have a seat, I’ll be with you in a minute.” Laura nods and takes a seat in the chair. Her eyes wander over the Doctor who’s currently looking at some papers. When she moves Laura swore she could see skinny jeans and combat boots under her white lab coat. Is that even allowed? Laura muses. Is someone that good looking even allowed to be a doctor? Laura isn’t convinced that she’s really an optician, she looks like someone who struts the runaway for a living.

“Okay,” Dr. Karnstein points to the eye chart at the end of the room. “Can you read the first letter?”

“E.” It isn’t that hard, it’s really big and Laura’s eyesight isn’t that bad.

“Great, how about the letters below it?”

“F and P”

“Keep going.”

“T, O, and Z.” Dr. Karnstein gestures for her to continue and Laura looks back at the board. The fourth row is kinda blurry and she has to squint her eyes and lean forward to read it. “Uhh, L, P, F, and D?”

“That’s actually an E, not an F.”

“Ahh, crap.” Laura huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. Dr. Karnstein chuckles and Laura whips her head to look at her. “Don’t worry,” She says in an amused voice. “This isn’t school. I’m not going to fail you for making a mistake.”

Laura nods and just stares at her. Because wow, is it possible to have cheekbones that high? And her lips look so red and soft, that Laura wants to touch them to see if they really are soft. She’s bought back to reality when her doctor laughs. “Now I can confirm that you really need glasses.”

Laura furrows her brows. “Why?”

“Because,” Dr. Karnstein says, a hint of smugness in her voice. “The chart is over there,” She points to the eye chart. “And you’re looking at me.”

Laura feels her face heat up as she looks away. Of course only she would be caught ogling her drop dead gorgeous optician. She turns back to the chart and tries to read the next set of letters, but they’re just a blurred, jumbled, mess of blobs. She sighs and runs a hand through her hair. “I can’t read it anymore.”

Dr. Karnstein walks towards her, and judging by the way her hips move, Laura’s becoming more convinced on her supermodel theory. Dr. Karnstein stops in front of her and puts a pair of thick metal spectacles her eyes.  Dr. Karnstein inserts two pieces of lenses in front and Laura blinks because her vision suddenly became blurrier than before.

“Too much?” Dr. Karnstein asks. Laura nod and she takes off the lenses. She replaces them with a different pair and Laura’s vision becomes sharper.

“Okay, can you read it now?”

Laura looks at the chart. She can see the letters better but they were still kinda blurry. “Is that an O?”

“No, that’s a C.”

Laura huffs again and Dr. Karnstein laughs. She takes the lenses out and picks from the other ones. “At least we’re getting closer.” She picks two from the pile and puts them in the glasses. Laura looks at the letters and yeah, that is definitely not an O.

“I can see it!” She squeals excitedly.

“Oh yeah?” Dr. Karnstein grins at her. “Alright let’s hear it.”

“E, D, F, C, Z, and P.” Laura says with a smug grin.

“Congratulations, you can now read like a first grader.”

“Hey!” Laura sticks her tongue out. Real mature, Hollis.

Dr. Karnstein takes the glasses off her face. “Kidding. Anyway, looks like we’ve found the perfect lens for your glasses. Do you want regular glasses or just ones for reading?”

“Just reading ones please.”

“Okay,” Dr. Karnstein writes something down at a paper. “I’m just going to give these to my technician, then they’ll shape the lenses for your glasses. That will take about an hour, you can stay or you can just come back for them.”

“I’ll stay.” The words are tumbling out of her mouth before Laura could stop them.

Dr. Karnstein smirks and Laura’s heart skips a bit. She could hear LaFontaine in her head going _crushes on opticians._ “I’ll be back in a bit.” Dr. Karnstein says, leaving Laura in the room.

Her eyes scan the small room and they land on the lollipop jar by the shelf. Laura feels herself light up like a Christmas tree at the sight of the treats. Sure those for meant for kids who behaved while having her eyes checked, but she did a good job, and she deserves a lollipop for a job well done.

Dr. Karnstein returns a few minutes later and hands Laura a piece of paper. “Give this to the technician outside when claiming your glasses. It’s also stated there what your vision is. Looks like you’re near-sighted.”

Laura nods and puts the paper in her pocket. Great, now she owes LaFontaine ten bucks because they made a bet earlier regarding her vision. LaFontained betted on far-sightedness, while Laura went with a just-tired and overworked excuse.  

“Uhm, Dr. Karnstein?”

Dr. Karnstein turns towards her. “Yes?”

“Can I have a lolly?”

“What?”

“A lollipop.” Laura points to the jar at the shelf.

“You do know that’s for kids?”

Laura feels her face scrunch up. “Well yeah, but I- there isn’t even a rule about that!”

“Yes there is.” Dr. Karnstein replies smugly, like she’s enjoying this whole conversation.

“No there’s not!” Laura glares at her. All she wants is one lollipop, it’s not like she’s going to take the whole jar. “I don’t see any rules restricting 24 year olds from enjoying a lollipop for a job well done.”

“No.”

Laura groans. Is it too much to ask for one piece of treat? She’s seriously thinking of committing felony and grabbing the jar while her doctor isn’t looking.

“Oh c’mon,” Laura pleads. “Would it kill you to just give me one?” Laura knows her face is doing that scrunched up thing she does whenever she’s angry, but she couldn’t care less.

Dr. Karnstein is still looking at her with an amused expression and Laura glares at her. “If you want a lollipop so badly, the candy store is just three blocks away.”

“But that just defeats the whole point!” Laura exclaims, throwing her hands up.

“And your point is?”

“My point is,” Laura tries to say in her most stern voice. “I did a good job at the eye exam.”

“Congratulations,” Dr. Karnstein drawls, slowly clapping her hands. “Do you want a medal?”

“No, I want a lollipop.”

Dr. Karnstein opens her mouth to reply when the door suddenly swings open. The technician pops her head in. “Uh Miss Hollis? We need you to sign the receipt.”

“Oh, alright.” Laura jumps off the chair and walks out the room. She walks to the counter and hands her pay. The technician hands her the change and she signs the receipt. The technician gives her the glasses and a black pouch. Laura tries them on and blinks to adjust her eyes to the sharper vision. It’s like her whole world just turned into 1080p instead of the usual 720p.

“Wow that was fast.” Laura comments as she takes the glasses off and puts it in the pouch.

“Yeah you were the only customer so I finished quickly.” The technician says.

Laura reaches for her bag to put her glasses in it but she realizes that she’s not wearing it. “I think I left my bag inside, can I get it?”

“Sure no problem.”

Laura walks back to the room and opens the door, she enters and closes the door behind her. Dr. Karnstein is nowhere to be found and Laura’s heart sinks a little. She didn’t even get to say goodbye. She walks over the chair where her bag is and her eyes widen in surprise at the sight in front of her.

 Next to her bag is a piece of lollipop wrapped in red paper, under the treat is a business card. Laura picks them up and looks at the card. Written on the white paper is _Dr. Carmilla Karnstein, Optician._ Underneath it is her cellphone number. Laura turns the card over and a huge grin spreads across her face. There written in a loopy cursive penmanship says: _You look really cute with that bunched up face everytime I say no. Call me sometime x_

\\\  


Laura’s sucking on her lollipop when she picks up her phone and dials the number in the small piece of paper in her hand. It rings four times and she hears a familiar voice at the end.

“Hello?”

“I don’t even like cherry flavor.” Laura says with a grin.

She hears Carmilla laugh at the other line. “Well I’m sorry that we didn’t get to exchange our favorite lollipop flavors during our conversation earlier.”

Laura snorts. She takes out the lollipop and holds it with her free hand. “I like lemon, or the cola one.”

“I think there’s some cola flavored ones at the jar.”

“Really?” Laura says in an excited voice.

“Mhmm,” Carmilla replies. “And the kids don’t like them, so they’re just sitting there with no one to eat them.”

“Oh how terrible.” Laura’s smile grows bigger.

“Truly a tragedy.” She hears Carmilla sigh dramatically. “Whoever will eat those poor unwanted lollipops?”

Laura rolls her eyes. “Okay fine, I’ll eat them, but only because you asked so nicely.”

“Great,” Carmilla says. “I’ll see you at around 12 then.”

“Okay,” Laura says. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, cutie.” Carmilla hangs up.

Laura finishes her lollipop. She falls asleep with a smile on her face and her hand clutched around her phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> of course there's a part 2


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ta-da. I told myself that i cant finish writing my other fics if i dont finish this one so yeah. Sorry it took a while.

“I’ll have the chicken.. Uhh. Fun wrap? Wow chicken and fun! That’s different!”

“Laura,” Carmilla sighs. “Put on your glasses.”

Laura takes her eyes of the menu. They’re in line at a restaurant and they’re buying dinner because Carmilla may be a very good Doctor but she’s not a very good cook. In Carmilla’s defense, it wasn’t her fault because while she was cooking she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and Laura’s lips on her neck. Next thing she knew, she was hoisting Laura up the counter, the food on the stove forgotten.

 “I don’t need them I can see just fine. I’m gonna have the chicken fun wrap. Even though I have no idea how that’s fun.”

Carmilla fishes Laura’s glasses out of her bag and hands it to her. “Just, put them on, please.”

Laura glares at the glasses and snatches them out of Carmilla’s hand. “Fine” She puts them on and blinks a few times. “Happy?”

“Very.” Carmilla replies with a grin. She jerks her head towards the counter. “Now read your order.”

Laura turns back to the menu and squints her eyes. She reads her order again.

_Chicken Fried Wrap_

“Heh.” Laura sticks her tongue out to Carmilla, who just raises her eyebrows in response. They’ve been dating for about five months now and Carmilla still has to remind Laura every now and then to _actually_ use her glasses.

“You bought those glasses for a reason, cupcake. Now wouldn’t it be a waste of money if you don’t use them?” Carmilla asks her.

“I know. I just don’t like wearing them cause I look like a dork.” Laura says, her face scrunching up.

“I think you look really hot in those glasses.” Carmilla replies, pressing a quick kiss to Laura’s cheek.

Laura feels her face heat up. “You’re just saying that.”

Carmilla kisses her cheek again. “It’s true, though.” She says lowly in Laura’s ear. Laura steps away from Carmilla because her being that close plus _that_ low, husky, voice does things to her and she doesn’t want to jump at Carmilla at a very crowded restaurant.

“Stop doing that.” She says sternly, or tries to. Carmilla just smirks at her, her eyes twinkling. The person in front of them moves away and the cashier greets them.

“Hi there! What are guys having?”

Carmilla speaks first, a grin on her face.

“She’s having the chicken fun wrap.”

\\\

Laura’s sitting in their couch, watching LaFontaine put their biology books from the shelf to the boxes littered across the floor. LaFontaine, feeling that they’re being watched, drops the books and turns towards Laura.

“Aw, don’t give me that look, Hollis.” LaFontaine says with a pout.

“What look? I’m not giving you any look.” Laura replies, looking down at the rug instead.

“Yes you are. You’re giving me the same look when I didn’t want to dress up as Ron when you dressed up as Harry that one Halloween. Is this about me moving?”

Laura sighs and nods. She and LaF have been friends for almost 7 years now and if anyone can read her like an open book, it’s LaF.

“You’re moving to Canada.”

“It’s just for a few months, Laur. Until Perry’s contract with her company ends. Then we’re going back here.” LaFontaine reassures her.

“I know, it’s just. Ugh.”

LaFontaine laughs and picks up another book. “I know, you’re gonna miss me. But hey, Carmilla’s gonna keep you company.”

Laura nods, still frowning. LaFontaine puts the last of their books in the box. “Don’t look so sad. Before you know it I’m back. I’ll even travel on special occasions like your birthday.”

“And on our monthly Harry Potter marathons.” Laura says with a grin.

“And your wedding.”

Laura freezes. “Wedding? What are you talking about? I’m not getting married.”

LaFontaine shrugs. “Yeah but who knows? Maybe 3 months from now you or Carmilla will get married. And I assure you, I’m not missing that no matter what happens.”

“Well you don’t have to worry cause we’re not getting married anytime soon.”

“Uh-oh,” LaFontaine grabs some tape and tapes the box shut. “Trouble in paradise?”

“No!” Laura says. “I want to marry her of course.”

“Then why haven’t you popped the question yet?”

Laura sighs and she scratches the back of her neck. “I just want her to be sure, you know? That she’s okay with spending the rest of her life with me. With plain, old, boring me.”

LaFontaine frowns at her. “Don’t say that you’re not boring. And she’s been with you this long and she hasn’t run away when you’ve shown her your Star Wars paraphernalia.”

“What if she gets bored of me?” Laura says in a small voice. Carmilla is, she’s, just amazing. She’s a doctor. She’s incredibly smart, she’s got a freakin PhD and she can speak over a dozen languages for gods sake. And Laura’s, well, she’s just plain old Laura. Why would Carmilla want to spend the rest of her life with a nerd like her?

“Hey,” LaFontaine says softly, they sit next to her on the couch and puts a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t think like that. Dude you are the least boring person I know.”

Laura looks at them. “You really think so?”

“Dude, who organized a 20 man search party when her roommate went missing when in reality she just passed out in the bushes after a frat party?”

Laura laughs at the memory from when she was a college freshman. “Me.”

“And who organized a rally when the school board decided to raise the tuition fee?”

“Me.”

LaFontaine grins at her. “And who, this is my favorite, ran after a fucking bear just to take pictures for the school paper?”

“Oh god, I’ll never forget that.” Laura says with a laugh.

“Point is, you are Laura Hollis who will run after bears and organize rallies and that is not boring. And to be honest, Carmilla is crazy if she gets bored of you.”

Laura punches their arm, a soft smile on her face. “Thanks LaF.”

“No problem, Hollis. And don’t think too much, you’ll go crazy. I can assure you, the way Carmilla looks at you is enough proof that she ain’t going nowhere.”

\\\

“What are you doing?”

Laura’s sitting on the floor, her face inches away from the television. She turns around and she sees Carmilla standing by the doorway with a confused look on her face.

Laura scoots away from the tv. “I couldn’t see the subtitles.”

Carmilla walks towards her and sits on the couch. “Where are your glasses?”

“I couldn’t find them!” Laura whines. “I’ve been looking all day.”

“Did you look under the bed?”

Laura rolls her eyes. “I did. I looked everywhere.” She runs a hand through her hair. “It must’ve gotten into LaF’s boxes by mistake. Great, at least my glasses can enjoy a nice vacation in Toronto.”

Carmilla pats the space to her and Laura plops down into it. Carmilla puts her arm around her. “It’s not a big deal, let’s just get you new ones. And I can also check your vision if it got worse or what.”

Laura sighs and buries her face in Carmilla’s neck, inhaling her scent. “I liked those glasses. It was the one I got when we first met.”

Carmilla laughs. “We’ll get you ones that look exactly like it.”

“It’s still not the same, though.” Laura mumbles.

“I’ll even give you a lollipop.” Carmilla says in a singsong voice.

Laura lifts her head and looks at Carmilla. “The cola one?”

“The cola one.”

Laura squeaks and throws her arms around Carmilla’s neck.

“Alright, deal.”

\\\

Laura walks into the optical shop half asleep. Carmilla insisted on her coming at around 8am, two hours before the shop opened. She opens the door and steps inside, it was empty and Carmilla is nowhere to be found.

“Carm?”

“I’m back here.” She hears Carmilla say from the office. Laura walks behind the counter and into the office. She sees Carmilla sitting in the table, playing with the sleeve of her lab coat, which Laura discovered, indicates that she’s stressed.

“Hey, you okay?” She asks, crossing the room and wrapping her arms around Carmilla’s waist.

She hears Carmilla sigh. “Yeah, just stressed.”

“I can tell.” She pulls back and looks at Carmilla’s face. Her eyes looks tired and there are bags under them. “Did you even sleep last night?”

Carmilla shakes her head. “Not really.”

“You didn’t have to open early just for me, I can kinda survive without my glasses.” Laura says with a frown.

“It’s not a big deal.” Carmilla says with a smile. “C’mon let’s get you some glasses before you hit your head in a post.”

Laura sits down in the chair and Carmilla turns on the light of the eye chart. Laura blinks her eyes. Holy crap she can barely read anything, it looks like her vision did get worse.

“Can’t see anything?”

“No,” Laura mumbles.

Carmilla puts the thick spectacles in her head and Laura couldn’t help but laugh at how familiar all of this feels.

“What’s so funny?” Carmilla asks in an amused voice.

“This feels like déjà vu.”

“Yeah, all that’s missing is you gawking at me.”

Laura’s face heats up and she glares at Carmilla. “I was not gawking at you!”

Carmilla shrugs, she puts two lenses in the spectacles. “Aw, don’t be embarrassed, we’re dating now it’s totally cool with me if you admit that you wanted to jump onto me the moment you saw me.”

“Whatever.” Laura mutters. She looks back at the eye chart, her face still red. The chart in front of her got less blurry but it was still hard to read. “I still can’t read anything.”

Carmilla replaces the lenses and Laura squints.

“W?”

“Keep going.” Carmilla says quietly.

Laura reads the second row. “I, L, L?” From the corner of her eye she saw Carmilla nod. She looks at the third row, it was kinda impossible to read but she could make out some letters.

“Y, O, V?”

Carmilla takes out the lenses without a word and replaces them. Laura looks at the chart and she realizes that she could read the whole thing. That was weird, she thought. The eye chart is different from the last one she saw, and there are only two words in the fourth row.

“Read the first row again.” Carmilla instructs.

“W”

“The second one.”

“I, L, L”

“Keep going, you’re doing great.” Carmilla’s voice is shaking and it confused Laura.

“Y, O, U, M, A, R, R, Y.” Without waiting for Carmilla’s instructions Laura reads the last row. “M, E.”

Holy shit.

Laura gasps loudly, her hand flying over her mouth. She looks at Carmilla, who’s looking at her with an unreadable expression. She looks back at the chart. And reads it again. There it is, in plain sight. _WILL YOU MARRY ME._ She looks back at Carmilla and takes the spectacles off.

Carmilla takes out a small box in from her coat and hands it to Laura. “I know we haven’t been dating long. But in the five months that we’ve been together I realized that you’re the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

Laura takes the box and gapes at Carmilla. After a few seconds of silence she asks “How long?”

“What?”

“How long have you thought about this?”

“A while,” Carmilla mumbles. “When you your neighbor was having renovations and you slept at my house for a week. I just realized that I wanted everyday like that, you know. Wake up and you’ll be the first thing I see.”

Laura doesn’t say anything, she just stares at the box. She doesn’t want to look at Carmilla because she knows that the moment she does, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from crying. Carmilla wants to marry her. Carmilla wants to be with her for the rest of their lives. And Laura just wants to fucking cry. Carmilla clears her throat and Laura looks at her.

“Uhm, well? Uh, is that a yes? Or do you need some time? Cause I can give you time” Carmilla stammers nervously. Laura’s never seen her this nervous before and she thinks it’s adorable.

Laura grabs the lapels of her coat and pulls her for a kiss. It was short, and sweet, and Laura hears Carmilla sigh dreamily when she pulls away.

“Of course I’m marrying you.” Laura says, kissing her jaw. “Who else would give me free candy?”

Carmilla laughs and smiles at her, looking at her like she’s the only person in the whole world that matters and Laura feels herself melt. She pulls Carmilla close and brings their lips together.

Laura may have a terrible eyesight but she’s certain about one thing.

She doesn’t need 20/20 vision to see how much she loves Carmilla.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so sappy but yeah, proposal fic because #lovewins

**Author's Note:**

> of course there's a part 2


End file.
